Airport Culture

When I first started flying, ('67) airports had a casual culture that was second to none, especially to  starry eyed kids who wanted to be airline pilots. You could go there and just sit in the lounge and listen to the patter of the controller or the last minute instructions by an instructor to a student who  just soloed the day before. You could absorb all that for free, and look forward to it all being applied  to you at some future point. Renting a Cessna 150 was $15 an hour with an  instructor, and $12 solo.  There was no security to speak of. You  could drive to a regional airport and walk the hangar line and see the airplanes. You could even fly into an international airport and visit the coffee shop. I did it.

In '68, I flew into Toronto International Airport with a  friend one evening, parked the Cessna on the tarmac and walked  into the airport. We had our coffee and watched the scene with some pride that we were using the same airport as the "big jets". I learned later, that some alert fuel truck driver had saved my airplane from being flipped over, by quickly driving his truck into the space between my airplane and the jet blast from a manoeuering DC-8.  I was chastened, and grateful, and despite the close call, eager to experience the many new and exciting things about career flying.

Today things have changed. After 9/11, a false flag event, attributable as yet, to no one, but hugely benefiting  - the planners of the "Project for a New American Century"  the airport culture changed. In fact the world changed.  Flying from an  airport is no longer fun. The "War on Terror" assumes  everyone who enters even a regional airport is a potential terrorist. The resulting security is a form of  psychological oppression, because all employees in that culture, be they police, baggage check-in, immigration, or janitorial staff  have been trained to justify their salaries as the last line of defense against a population who ironically have never, ever, even met a terrorist or experienced  a "truthful" terrorist event.  In fact  despite what the establishment media tells us, there have not been any true terrorist events. The records testify, that they have all been deliberately contrived and then published to condition the public so that, among other things, we distrust each other, and begin to hate airports.

I don't want play that game anymore.
Yesterday, after a long absence, I visited a regional airport and the security equipment, surveillance, fencing, and overbearing police presence reaffirmed my aversion to airports and my ambition to fly  without their control, licensing or services.  It's impossible to tally accurately, but all of the above  make flying very expensive. You pay one way of another for all  those police and all the time you are a criminal suspect .
But in Costa Rica, except for control zones, (3)  95 % of the airspace is  uncontrolled  airspace. This  Blog is re-dedicated to promoting its use specifically with ultralights that can be the personal  responsibility of an individual.

In the picture,  engineer and machinist  Ron Flitton opens a crate of engine parts, which this summer, has become a 65 HP, 4 cycle , air cooled, turbo charged , computer controlled, fuel injected  helicopter engine that runs on regular fuel. Fuel and the ability to land anywhere and refuel, is the key to accessing all free airspace.

Test Flight 7 February 2015

Engine runs at the hangar  have  yielded  data that  has allowed Ron to reduce the radiator size for  cooling both oil and water . In addition the electrical relays relative to the engine control unit have been reinvented and made redundant in order to ensure that engine will run and run. All this work was tested successfully on this 30 minute flight on a farm in Herradura, Costa Rica .